Champions League

So, a mixed week for the English teams in the Champions league. While Liverpool and Manchester United enjoyed good results, both Arsenal and Chelsea faired slightly worse.

Admittedly Chelsea managed a one all draw away at Porto, but the loss of John Terry was a heavy price to pay for that all important away goal. I'm sure given the choice, most Chelsea fans and perhaps even the special one himself, would have traded off Terry's fitness against a one nil defeat. Quite how long the England skipper is out for, and the effect that has on the reminader Chelsea's season, remains to be see.

For Arsenal, their performance midweek probably merited more than the result they achieved and a tricky tie awaits them back at the Emirates for the second leg. Going into the League cup final on the weekend they are hardly in ideal shape, that defeat at the hands of PSV, was preceeded by an awful performance in the FA cup against Blackburnand perhaps the only good news of the week for the Gunners may turn out to be that injury to the Chelsea captain.

The Barcelona, Liverpool tie, turned out to be a tale of two split camps. Whilst on one hand the Barca team seemed lacking in organisaiton, creativity and most importantly any team spirit, perhaps due in part to Ronaldinho and Eto's public and recent falling out; Liverpool on the other hand, under the tactical astuteness of Benitez, showed just how to regain that all important team togetherness.

In fairness to the Liverpool players in question, Riise and Bellamy, the type of spat the two shared, is rumoured to be common place amongst training grounds and trips away at football clubs the world over. Bellamy it seems, is paying the price for a reputation that seems to have dogged him through out his playing career. You get the feeling Liverpool may well be Bellamy's last chance and a career that might have been beckons should he be shown the Anfueld exit door in the summer.

In the other game concerning an English side, Manchester United scraped a one nil victory thanks to a highly contreversial Ryan Giggs free kick goal. The scenes that followed however, were nothing short of disgraceful and UEFA should hopefully intervene and issue Lille with a severe repremand. Pervesly, this may also serve as a major test of the new UEFA presidents intergrity. With Platini insisting on fair play at all times, the actions of the Lille players and coaching staff could prove to be quite an embarassment for him at such an early stage of his presidency.

More worrying than the scenes that followed United's goal, were the pictures taken during the match of the United fans, seemingly trapped in the bottom teir of the away supporters section. These scenes only go to show that whilst the English game has made great strides in eradicating trouble from it's terraces, it seems that in light of Tuesday's scenes, coupled with trouble in Italy and also the threat of game postponements in Germany, that our European counterparts have significant steps to take to ensure safety at their grounds matches that of ours.

Paramount in all games should be the safety of not only the players, but also the spectators. It would be interesting to see if the reaction of UEFA would differ should scenes of Tuesday nights nature in France be repeated at Anfield or Old Trafford.